Tag: news

One of my favorite guilty pleasures is a show on PBS called ‘This Old House”. Its the original reality show where they find some people who own a house that needs updating. On the episode where they introduce us to the house, they go through with the owners of what looks like a perfectly livable house and look at all the problems they have with it; Continue reading “This Old Government”

The most watched channel in our house at least while I’m home is the Weather Channel. I’m probably the only person in the country that is disappointed when it’s sunny and calm from California to Atlanta. But the last couple of days the coverage of this storm lining up and hitting the northeast has been nothing but a marvelous popcorn-and-pop distraction that I’m happily watching from the fifty degree and sunny midwest. But don’t fret, I have a bad feeling our turn is coming. And if you’ve been paying attention you already know how I feel about snow. Continue reading “Blizzard Watching From a Distance”

It’s three weeks until another election day and while watching TV this month its impossible not to see all the ads about political candidates. It makes me wish fondly for the days with breaks full of used cars and Cialis commercials. I’m sure we’ll be getting back to those soon after the elections along with commercials full of cheery and hurried people trying to fulfill their empty dreams of Christmas.

In the mean time these political commercials remind us that everyone needs to get out and vote. That way there are more people that we can use to spread the blame wider and thinner for putting these jerks in office. Wider and thinner – just like spackling over a bad joint in drywall.

In the long run it won’t make a lot of difference how many citizens vote or who eventually gets in to office anyway after some court finally decides the winner. I’ve voted for over 40 years and all I can think of it must be my fault. I’m doing something wrong when I vote because everything in politics seems to just keep getting worse and worse.

It’s supposed to be easy to vote for the right guy. After all one of the slogans reminds us that voting is as easy as driving. You use ‘R’ to go backwards and ‘D’ to go forward. If that’s the case why do we keep picking the guy that drives the car through the back wall of the garage and over the swing set in the backyard? We can only hope that no children are playing on the swing set when he hits it.

Well since this is the way we know things work and it’s better than most of the other systems in the world, let’s give the candidates one more chance. Even if you think it doesn’t matter who you vote for – just get out and vote.

As you watch the news coverage in the next couple of days keep thinking of these questions.

Does it seem like a coincidence that the Israeli incursion into Palestine happened so close on the heels of the crash of Malaysia flight 17? It seemed only an hour or two apart that the stories broke. Is this the news media being manipulated to not look too closely into whats happening to Hamas?

Is it a coincidence that two Malaysian flights have been lost so close together in time? Was the first one just some sort of a rehearsal? And if so, who is really running the show?

Remember to not restrict your news viewing to just one or two outlets. And be sure to include the international and non-commercial news media points of view.